Something's OFF About This Game
by Illusical
Summary: The series OFF by Mortis Ghost is very surreal, complex, and confusing. I hope, though this theory, that I could spark some discussion. If anyone has comments they'd like to add, feel free! I'm always up for conflicting ideas!
1. What the Game Says

When you begin this game, the very first thing that you read are some words that say: "You have been assigned to a being called the batter. The batter has an important mission. Be sure that it's accomplished. We will let you out in Zone 0. Good luck. For more information, find the one called the Judge." Once you read past all that information, you (as the batter) enter the mentioned Zone 0, which contains an odd, incorrectly colored landscape, white water, and, once you've walked forward a little, a cat. At first, it appears normal, but upon the cat's beginning speech, you can clearly tell that it is far from a normal cat at all.

This cat, which you later find is called the Judge, begins his greetings with: "There cannot be any other living creature in Zone 0, so I must assume that you are only a mere figment of my imagination. Nevertheless, I will introduce myself. I am the Judge, and I am aching to know your name, dear illusory interlocutor." The batter replies in stating who he is, and shamelessly announces that he has been assigned to a "sacred mission." To which the Judge counters, "It is a pleasure. However, it is not the puppet I was addressing, but the puppeteer controlling it. What's your name dear puppeteer?" The batter responds for you, saying whatever username you've so wished to enter, along with mentioning that you cannot speak to them. But the batter also brings up that you can, however, see and hear everything. The Judge continues, "Even though you too are but an inexistent apparition in my eyes, let it be said that I am delighted to meet you as well, dear whoever-you-are." The batter mentions that we are in need of the Judge's services, and after some more dialogue, we follow the Judge to the second story in Zone 0.

After some dialogue, the Judge asks, "Might you in fact be a creature of flesh and blood?" to which the batter responds, "I think so, yes." After more speech, the Judge mentions, "This is relatively bizarre, I must say, for you are the first living being I was given a chance to encounter in this lieu." Once he continues, he mentions that there are other zones, which apparently hold much more hostile creatures than the emptiness of Zone 0. The Judge then continues into asking if the batter would like to receive some basic training before entering these lands, due to assuming that his sacred mission will lead him there. Depending on whether you say yes or no will determine whether you take more time to practice to prepare yourself (this will be irrelevant to the theory). Afterwards, the Judge says he has one last thing to show you, zipping up into the third story and disappearing. You eventually will learn how to solve codes and puzzles throughout the game, as the first one the Judge brings to you shows you how to complete them.

Afterwards, you go through the zones, fight specters, gain add-ons, defeat possessed Elsen, kill the three guardians, have some kind of warp into a children's drawing, assist the guardians you thought you killed, fight the queen, kill a little boy named Hugo, fight the Judge (or side with the Judge against batter), one or the other gets killed, and depending on who won, determines the ending.

Now, that might sound very simple, but there's so much backstory that simply playing the game and not paying attention is a huge mistake. So therefore, I'm going to give my interpretation, and hopefully gain some new insight along the way.


	2. The Character's Literal Roles

The characters. The single most complex people of the OFF franchise that could be keys to unlocking mysteries. Since there are many different characters, I will start with the most important character and work down.

1\. The Batter - The batter is the main protagonist of the story, presumably controlled by the player (or so determined as his conscience), and is the main hero. He, along with his trusty bat and his three add ons, Alpha, Omega and Epsilon, are out to purify the zones of this world.

2\. The Queen - Also known as Vader Eloha, is the only other character in the series to have add ons herself, respectively named Delta, Sigma and Upsilon. She is the ruler of all the zones, and knows about each and every happening that occurs in the story. She is the final boss before fighting Hugo, who is later revealed to be the queen's and batter's son. This gives the implication that the queen is the batter's wife, which will be further explained.

3\. Hugo- The infant boy who resides in the red room, guarded by the queen. He is also believed to be the son of the batter and the queen. He is known for coughing at every opening speech, as well as fiddling with a little meat stick plushie.

4\. The Judge - Who's true name is actually Pablo. The Judge is the one who gives you hints and clues throughout the game. He is also the one who you must fight against or alongside at the end of the game.

5\. Elsens - The ever populous citizens of the OFF world. They all look alike, except those at the mines and in the room, and are a very quiet, timid people. Upon exposure to extreme pressure, possessed Elsen explode into smokestacks, becoming dangerous.

6\. Dedan - The guardian of Zone 1. He is hostile, cruel, unforgiving, and brutal. He, out of the three, is clearly the most unpleasant to be around.

7\. Valerie/Japheth - The guardian of Zone 2. Valerie is originally shown to be the Judge's delusional, feline brother. Once Japheth shows himself, it is revealed that Valerie was no more than a disguise for the vile fire bird.

8\. Enoch - The guardian of Zone 3. Enoch is certainly the more reasonable and understanding of the three, but provoking him in the wrong way gets you on his bad side.

9\. Specters - The hostile creatures of every zone that either appear, possess, or consume whatever is in their path. This is what the batter sets out to purify and eliminate.


	3. Who are You?

Before we delve into the actual story, we must first figure out the very first person mentioned. The player! You, the individual who chose to play this game, who chose your own choice of name, and the sole controller of the batter. This must mean that not only are you an important piece to a veiled puzzle, but you also might be one of the single most important pieces to the way the story is told.

Firstly, in the very beginning, the Judge, although acknowledging the batter's acquaintance, has you in the first and foremost of his mind. He wants to know who you are, so you obviously are important in the story. The only other character who seems to directly acknowledge the player's presence is Zacharie, but he will be discussed on a later note.

While watching several different play-throughs and reading several small theories, one has stuck predominantly in my mind: the player is the batter's conscience. Now, that may sound absurd at first, but after paying close attention, I've begun to realize why this might be the case. In the very beginning, when the batter introduces you to the Judge, he claims that you cannot speak to them. However, you do have the ability to see and hear everything. Therefore, you are the one who controls him, decides for him, and ultimately, chooses the ending. You are the one who makes every single decision throughout the game.

This parallels with what your conscience does for you on a daily basis. Now there are some situations in the game where you don't have a choice, such as the area where specters suddenly appeared in the Elsen's neighborhood. You had a specific amount of time to defeat them all. Doesn't your conscience do that for you as well? In sticky situations where you have to think fast, and you don't have the choice to walk away, what does your conscience do? The very thing that happened in the Elsen neighborhood on Zone 2. Therefore my strongest theory for the player is that they are the conscience of the batter.


	4. The Theory Tree

**The reason I'm calling this the Theory Tree is because there are different paths that start from the same spot, and ultimately end at the same spot. Here it is:**

 **1\. The Batter is in a Coma:** _This is my strongest argument for why everything seems bizarre and surreal. Firstly, no one can talk to cats in real life, and therefore Pablo must represent something else. Secondly, the four important elements in this game are plastic, meat, metal, and smoke, not your typical Avatar:TLA elements. This is where this leads up to:_

 **A. The Judge represents Fate:** Fate is a very strong thing in our world, no? You either believe in it or you don't, and depending on those two things, it determines how you might live your life. Let's say that the batter is one of those people who does, and lets say that he IS in a coma. How does that change the story? Other than the obvious (the cat can talk), Fate takes on a more physical role. Fate is also the only one, besides Zacharie, who can directly address the player/conscience and affect how they might play the game. Giving Fate a more physical role would also allow it to fit in better with the surreal aspect of OFF. When you fight with or against the Judge in the end, it's the conscience who's ultimately deciding if fate or mission is going to determine the end.

 **B. Specters/Elsen are Faces and Voices:** Going off of batter's coma, they would not be evil, as the batter's subconscious begins to portray them. Rather, they are voices and unrecognizable faces, either of old friends or acquaintances, that are attempting to make some sort of contact with his mind.

 **C. To Kill is to Forget:** My strongest belief for purifying adversaries is that the batter feels that he no longer needs them in his life. His conscience, along with his subconscious, makes the assumption, "They're far away, so they aren't important." This concludes that he's not necessarily killing Specters and Elsen, but it's his only way of making sense of why they're suddenly disappearing. This also applies to the guardians and Hugo.

 _With these things in mind, let's move on to the next branches:_

 **2\. Purification leads to Death:** _Assuming that the above is true, what does this say about purified zones? This may conclude that every purified zone is one major step closer to death. There are some who survive a coma, but there are also some who don't. This may also explain why the Judge (or Fate) decides to help the batter at first, but stops him towards the end. Maybe death wasn't what fate had in mind, and that's where the player/conscious makes the decision whether to live or die._

 **3\. Guardians have Real Life Roles:** _This would also support the coma theory. The guardians of each zone are real, important people in the batter's life who still believe in him._

 **A. Dedan represents the Batter's Doctor:** The one who's dressed in a long coat, and who may be foul mouthed, but more importantly knows what he's doing. Defeating him in OFF is ultimately saying that the batter has lost faith in his doctor to bring him back.

 **B. Val and Japh represent Inevitable Death:** Remember how it said that Valerie died swallowing a bird too big for him? This is supposed to be a reality check for the batter. Valerie represents the victim of death, and Japheth represents death itself. What the Judge is doing at the end of the story is telling him that just because death is an option, doesn't mean it's the only option. The relation of defeating Japheth is uncertain, but will hopefully be solved.

 **C. Enoch is the Batter's Boss:** If we take the character of the batter and make it literal, than Enoch would have no better fit than to be the executive of the batter's team. Why else would he have a prominent role as a guardian if he wasn't important? He is a very reasonable man, who's high up in power, and has a respected authority among people who work under him. Defeating him leaves the batter to suggest that Enoch has lost faith in him, unlike Dedan.

 **D. Wife is Queen:** Why is the wife of the batter the queen? She ultimately makes the decisions, everyone ultimately listens to her, and she is the only one who can make batter believe that he still has something left to fight for. Going off the fact that the batter is in a coma, she sits back and does nothing because she doesn't know what to do. It's not that the guardians of zones aren't doing a good job, it's the fact that she trusts them to do something that she apparently has no knowledge in. Defeating her is suggesting that the batter doesn't believe his wife is taking care of him.

 **4\. Characters and Items have Symbolistic Roles:** _The OFF switch at the end of the game is the biggest supporter of this. Going on the coma theory, the OFF switch would have no better role than the life support the batter is living off of. The batter taking the initiative to go and shut off the switch is saying that he has even lost faith in himself. Fate, or the Judge, is telling him, "No! It's not true! You've forgotten about everyone, but they haven't forgotten you!" which explains why the Judge feels he must stop him in the end. This is also true for Zacharie and Sucre (or Sugar), and I'll explain why:_

 **A. Zacharie is the Batter's Medicine:** Zacharie is your only merchant for buying and selling. Medicine cannot decide what your body is going to do with what it gives you. Zacharie shows this neutrality in allowing you to remove (sell) what you don't need and take (buy) what you feel you do. Medicine has also been shown to alter someone's mindset and affect their thinking. This could explain why at first the player thinks their doing something good, but eventually figures out what they're doing is seen as very, very bad.

 **B. Sugar is Dependency:** Sucre's constant need for sugar suggests she can't live without it. The batter can't decide whether he lives off of the life support or not. Sugar's addiction may be a parallel in that respect, saying, "You literally can't live without it." Batter defeating Sucre suggests that he is against this mindset, especially if we go off the branch that his ultimate goal is to die.

 **C. The Elements:** These seem like they don't mesh, but these elements perfectly meld into the coma theory. Smoke, that could've been wrongly interpreted from air, is the very thing that the batter believes he and the Elsen live off of. Metal is found in the components of a hospital bed, and the only thing that seems to keep him "afloat." Liquid meat could suggest the kind of food he's being fed in his coma. Not only does he not have a choice as to what he's given, but since he doesn't have the ability to chew, it might be the only way he can be sustained on the other side. Liquid plastic could be his subconscious interpreting the sheets that he's covered by. The plastic keeps him in because he doesn't feel he can move with them on his person.

 **D. Possessed Elsen:** Y'know, the Elsen that explode into smokestacks upon extreme pressure. I feel that the possessed Elsen, upon explosion, represent the emotions that people are expressing in the real world. This is supported by the fact that the Elsen, often, don't know what to say, and are very quiet and sad, too. How is this paralleled? Well, most people who come to console coma-ridden families don't know what to say, either. They feel terrible for the family that's suffering, and wish they could help. Some Elsen reveal secrets in the same, such as the one in the amusement park, and this could parallel to secrets that real life friends are telling the batter. Some Elsen also scream, "Help me!" or ask "Can you purify me? Take the pain away?" this is part of the batter's subconscious that wants to tell them it'll be okay. Defeating possessed Elsen tells the batter, "They feel better. They're okay now." therefore letting him move on without a drop of remorse.


	5. The Revealing Order

And I'll show you just what I think of it...


	6. The End

You're the batter, walking into a room. You've purified every adversary possible. You've removed the people from your mind that you found irrelevant. Now, straight in front of you, is the OFF switch. You walk up, about to pull it down, when the Judge appears, stopping you.

"Stop right there... You imposter." after a brief pause, "I must say that I had placed the blindest of confidences, the solidest of hopes and the most sincere belief in you. We can well say I have erred to the bones. But the real betrayer is rather the one who lies beyond the eyes of the cat. What have you done, [you]? Is the opaque mist of the scenery frame really an excuse for killing your wife and child? You have not purified this place. You have destroyed, eradicated it. You have emmersed it into a pristine nothingness."

The batter interjects, "It's better like that."

Judge continues, "I should not have lent you my hand. I should've detected the black flame that consumed your soul from the beginning. [Player], join me. Expiate the sins we are guilty of by preventing this monster from completing his work."

The batter counters, "Don't do that! I need you to purify this world!"

Judge counters, "The time has now come to render your final and futile punishment!"

Now two choices appear, and you, the conscience, must choose. Who will be victorious? Mission, or Fate? We'll go over them in the next section.


	7. End Theory

The ending is sad, yes. Death or two deaths, there is no happy ending... Or is there?

You see, my biggest issue with the ending of OFF is that, if taken in a literal sense, leaves the conclusion that there is no ending. It's either an eternity on one extreme or another, and its purpose seems empty and void. There's no good choice to make, just an argumentative one.

Now, if we put this ending into my theory, it gives it a much better purpose, and, just maybe a happy ending. This also answers the question of why I see the Judge as Fate, and not just a creature of intense vernacular.

If the Judge/Fate is against the batter turning the switch to OFF, and the switch is the life support, then this means that death is not what fate had in mind. Fate wasn't ready for batter to die. Therefore, defeating the batter is saying, "You will die, but it is not this day!" (as quoted from Aragorn).

What does this mean about defeat in game? No matter what enemy you face? I feel that defeat in the game is an oxymoron for getting out of the coma in real life. There have been several accounts of people going in and out of lapses, looking to come back, but then they don't.

This could mean that the Judge defeating batter brings him out of his coma once and for all. He comes back to the real world, where his faithful wife, his child, his doctor and his executive boss wait for him to awaken. Judge saying, "Hence, nothing remains except for our regrets." could mean that he was talking of batter's mission. Judge regrets having to join batter on a quest that had no good outcome, and that wasn't intended.

But, say you went the other way, say you continued with the batter's mission. This could mean that the very thing batter believed in, Fate, has failed him as well. By defeating the Judge, the court is out of session, and therefore the plaintiff can do whatever he pleases. So, essentially, siding with the Judge and short-stopping the batter's mission is actually doing him a favor.


End file.
